Macmillan defends hijacking Ice Bucket Challenge

Macmillan Cancer Support, the charity, has defended itself from accusations of "hijacking" the ALS Association's Ice Bucket Challenge craze, claiming it did not want to miss out on another social media phenomenon.

The challenge began in the US, where it raised money for the ALS Association to combat Lou Gehrig’s Disease – or motor neurone disease, as it is commonly known in the UK.

On missing out on the #nomakeupselfie campaign, Neylon said: "We were too slow – it was a big motivator to be much better the next time an opportunity came along.

"So, since #nomakeupselfie, I’d like to think that we’ve had some success with #tubestrike and #thatsmydad. We’re trying to be bolder, we’re listening to what’s going on all over the world, and we’re responding more quickly than we have in the past."

The charity said it started its own social media and search campaign for the ice bucket challenge as a response to its supporters, after noticing they were discussing it on social media and raising money for the charity by doing the challenge on their own accord.

However, Macmillan has come under fire for jumping on ALS Association’s bandwagon and hijacking its campaign, particularly because cancer charities have a much higher profile than those for rare conditions like motor neurone disease.

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